☾ ☽
phil was acting... strange.
not bad, exactly, just odd.
he kept looking at him, a curious expression on his face. searching his features with a certain confusion, as if he was looking for something he just couldn't put his finger on.
normally dan would have questioned it, but he was so caught up in other problems, such as why his shoes had stopped working, that he forgot to. they had just started randomly malfunctioning, leaving a trail without him even noticing, and it was worrying dan immensely.
and that's when the shitstorm began.
he realized it was a mistake to not pay more attention to phil a certain saturday evening when he stopped him at his own doorway.
"dan..." he started, frowning, as if he was fighting with himself. dan raised his eyebrows.
"yeah...?"
"why did you need to use my computer the other day?"
dan froze. did he know?
oh dear, he hadn't deleted the history, had he? of course he hadn't. why did he always have to mess everything up?
"stuff for my stand," he mumbled, hoping it would suffice as an excuse. phil raised an eyebrow.
"doesn't sound like things you'd need to know for selling flowers..." he replied, which confirmed dan's worst fears.
panicking, dan slammed the door.
he tugged at his hair, mentally freaking out, trying to keep quiet. why had he reacted like that? that wasn't hiding anything. he heard phil sigh from the other side of the door.
"dan, you know you can tell me anything, right? you know that." he paused, and suddenly, his voice came off as slightly hurt. "do you even see me as a friend?"
dan screamed silently, punching himself in the stomach in anger.
"of course i do," he said back, leaning against the wood, trying to calm himself down. it was over, he was out on the streets again. there was no way phil would let him stay after he found out.
"doesn't seem like it," he heard phil mumble, and his heart jolted. "look, i just want you to know that you're safe here. okay?" his voice was soft, but he said it like he meant it. did he mean it? "you're safe here, dan. and i'm your friend. friends keep secrets."
dan heard footsteps before he could reply, and phil was gone.
➸
phil heard pacing.
it had started quietly, and he could tell dan was trying to keep quiet without taking his shoes off. it gradually got louder; he was clearly giving up.
phil sighed, staring up at his ceiling. he didn't even mind that the thumping was keeping him up, he was so overwhelmed with confusion and worry. what was he supposed to do? dan obviously didn't want to tell him anything, but he cared about him, and he cared if he was in trouble. and based on how he had been acting recently, he definitely was.
phil sighed, deciding to go try and talk to him again. he padded down the hall, pausing at dan's door. had he already evaded his privacy enough?
he decided he hadn't, pressing his ear to the door.
what he didn't realize until it was too late was that his door was actually loosely closed, and leaning against it like that was going to push it open, revealing dan pacing, like phil had thought. but he hadn't expected the room to be filled with violets. it looked like a fucking meadow.
phil's mouth dropped open.
dan stopped in his tracks, his hands flying up to cover his mouth in shock, letting out a surprised gasp.
phil spun around, moving out of dan's doorway and pressing his back against the wall. "oh my god," he said loudly. "how is that- what the-?"
dan was quiet, but phil couldn't hear pacing anymore.
too shocked to think of doing anything else, he calmly walked back to his room.
➸
in the morning, he almost thought it was a dream. that was until he left his room to see dan, holding a bag loosely stuffed with things.
"woah, woah," phil said, still groggy from sleep. "what are you doing?"
dan couldn't look him in the eyes. "leaving." he took a shaky breath, messing up his hair. "you don't need this."
okay, so not a dream.
"hey," he said firmly, rushing over to take dan's bag from him, in case he considered making a run for it. "it's okay, you don't have to go."
he met his eyes, trying to covey how worried he was for him, and how confused, but dan's face was emotionless. he tried to grab his bag back.
"yes, i do." he shook his head, his lip trembling. "i hurt everyone. everyone i touch. everyone who knows about this damn curse."
phil blinked, his thoughts tangling together, holding the bag out of his reach.
he still wasn't quite sure what he had seen the night before, but dan clearly knew. and he clearly didn't like it very much.
"w-wait," phil said. "just explain! i promise, i don't want you to go, i just don't understand."
"you don't have to," dan snapped, his voice laced with desperation. he jumped, but phil pivoted away. "the truth is, everyone who knows leaves me, and give me my fucking bag, phil lester-!"
surprised by the cursing, phil accidentally lowered his arm, and dan yanked his bag away from him.
"goodbye," he said, clearly upset.
phil reached out in a panic, grabbing his wrist. "just wait a second, dan!"
"let go," dan whined, pulling at his arm, but phil held on tighter. "that hurts, stop!"
"not until you talk to me."
dan huffed, pouting and stomping his foot like a five year old. "what do you want from me?"
"tell me what i saw," phil replied, breathless. "better yet, show me."
dan tugged at his arm again.
"i won't-! you don't have to know, i'm leaving anyways, and you'll tell someone and-"
"friends don't tell secrets," phil interrupted, repeating his words from the night before.
dan searched his face for a second before continuing to try to twist out of his grasp. phil grabbed his other wrist with his other hand. dan cried out in exasperation.
"let go of me, phil, or i swear i'll-"
"you'll do what?" phil raised his eyebrows, and he couldn't help enjoying this a little. dan was cute when he was mad, his face all red and splotchy.
dan let out another anger induced sound, pulling as hard as he could, leaning back with his feet planted firmly in front of phil's. "let- go-!"
at the second word, it happened.
phil gasped, watching right in front of him as vines wrapped around his arms, starting from where he was holding on to dan, growing rapidly. he only realized that they were roses until the thorns were cutting into him.
he let go quickly, jumping back, but the vines didn't break. they stopped growing, but kept him tasseled to dan like a painful rope.
dan fell backwards, (which of course pulled phil towards him), landing on his butt, staring at his hands with wide eyes.
"what the fuck was that?" phil exclaimed, and dan just shook his head, just as shocked as he was.
"i-i don't know!"
phil stared at the vine, now dotted with tiny red roses, that seemed to be coming from dan's hands.
"how is that p-possible?"
"if i knew, would i have been looking it up on google?" dan snapped, still examining the plant, looking for a way to un-attach them. he had a point.
phil automatically grabbed dan's hands, intertwining their fingers to make the vines looser and lessen his pain, and they shriveled up, disappearing altogether.
so then they were just on the living room carpet, holding hands, panting and staring at each other in disbelief.
phil let go, pushing himself to his feet and brushing himself off, breathing heavily. he didn't bother to look at the small cuts on his arms that he knew were there.
he stood in shocked silence for a few minutes, attempting to wrap his head around what had just happened and how the hell dan could do that. finally, he said what he had been thinking.
"you have a lot of explaining to do. and i'd prefer if you started now."